Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Redesigning Wellness podcast! If you’re a regular listener, you know myself and past guests have mentioned the Wellness Underground. This organization was created by Brian Passon and Evin Cole (along with 2 other members who are still underground). They also started an “unwellness” workshop in 2015
Today, I talk to Evin and Brian about the 2017 workshop. I also go into a speed round that asks them questions from the organizers perspectives.
I went to the workshop this past January and found it to be a refreshing approach to the standard conference. In particular, I liked the small atmosphere, speakers and time and ability to connect with almost all workshop participants.
For more info on the 2017 Wellness Underground workshop, you can visit http://www.wellnessunderground.com/.
Although this podcast interview is about Marketing and in particular, Word of Mouth Marketing, Geno Church opens up about a recent diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes. He talks about the judgement and stigma that comes along with diabetes and how the food, celebrations and travel at work affect him.
Geno Church is the Word of Mouth Inspiration Officer at Brains on Fire. Brains on Fire is a tribe of passionate humans and creative rebels who get out of bed each day on a mission: to help their clients become stories people want to be a part of.
Around the 13-minute mark, Geno talks about Word of Mouth Marketing and how it starts with people not tactics or campaigns. In essence, whoever tells their story best wins.
Geno talks about the importance of employers paying attention to their employees being brand ambassadors and how to empower them to have a conversation on your behalf.
He tells us the signs you are starting to create a word of mouth wellness movement and leaves us with his advice on how to get employees involved in their health.
Love them or hate them, wellness vendors are common in the employer market. There are a ton of wellness vendors out there and chances are your employer is currently using one or has used one in the past. Often wellness vendors are seen as filling a needed gap but how do you wade through all of your options?
There are so many of them it’s hard to keep track and understand the key value propositions of each company. The standard process for employers selecting a wellness vendor is a very painful process, where there’s a long set of questions the vendor completes and an employer or consultant tries to compare each one and make a recommendation. If you’ve ever done this it’s a truly painful process that today’s guest set out to solve.
In this episode, I talk to Joe Miller. Joe ran a wellness company from 2003 to 2013 and felt that as a vendor that the RFP process didn't tell the whole story of what his company did. Also, he realized the process brokers/consultants were using to keep up with wellness vendors was inefficient. Joe left that company to start the Wellness Institute.
Joe describes his company as the Match.com or eHarmony of vendors, using a matching survey with 20 questions including goals, message, philosophies, and demographics.
In this episode, Joe and I talk about:
There's so much to know about the many different laws and regulations surrounding worksite wellness programs. To help us work through the many nuances of the laws, I brought on Attorney Barbara Zabawa, owner of the Center for Health & Wellness Law, LLC.
You almost have to sit down with a pen and paper for this podcast because there's a lot of caveats and scenarios that you'll need to consider, especially if you are collecting health information (think Health Assessment and biometrics), offering an outcomes based program or offering incentives.
I start off asking some pretty basic questions to set the groundwork for the conversation. Barbara starts off explaining that the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is the federal agency that enforces the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Barbara then breaks down the EEOC's final wellness rules in May 2016, what an employer should consider when collecting health info, the first question employers should ask when designing a wellness program and the tobacco penalty limit.
If I asked you the #1 source of stress in your lives, what would you say?
A recent article I read, says 83% of workers say they’re stressed about their jobs, nearly 50 percent say work-related stress is interfering with their sleep, and 60 percent use their smartphones to check in with work outside of normal working hours.
That’s why I brought on today’s guest, Brian Luke Seaward. Brian Luke Seaward is a renowned and respected international expert in the fields of stress management, mind-body-spirit healing and health promotion.
In this episode we discuss stress in the workplace, mindfulness, meditation, healthy boundaries and digital toxicity.
Towards the end, he talks about compassion fatigue of caregivers. So, if you’re in the caregiving industry, like nursing, nursing aids/assistants, etc. you’ll find some helpful tips.
A common statement you may hear from your employees about your wellness program is "but I didn't know". You may chock that up to the employee just making an excuse because you feel you've communicated clearly. Besides, you're sick of communicating the message so everyone must be aware, right?
In a survey by Prescient Digital Media, only 13% of employees reported participating in their intranet daily—31% said they never do. If you are using your intranet as your sole communication method, you are missing a large part of your employees. That's why it's so important to get your wellness communications right.
What's the point in investing your time and money on a wellness initiative if no one knows about it? That's why I'm spending another podcast on effective communications.
This episode features Wendy Haan. Wendy is a worksite health and wellness marketing professional with more than 20 years of communications experience.
Wendy oversees all of the content and inbound marketing for Hope Health, providing cutting-edge tips and information to wellness professionals and committees on the latest in wellness communication trends.
In this episode, we talk about:
Wendy walks us through the 8 Secrets to Effective Employee Communication and tells us the #1 thing you need to do to get employees to read your communications.
I hope we can all agree you need to make sure wellness programs are adequately communicated so how are strategic communications different? Strategic communications are one that educate, motivate, market and build trust. They are also designed to achieve well-defined objectives.
Think about the last wellness communication you put together. If it was a laundry list of what your employees had to do, then that’s not exactly a strategic communication.
Mark Dessauer is an expert in strategic communications and VP of Learning at Spitfire Strategies. Although Mark has always been in communications, he worked at Active Living by Design (ALBD) for over 10 years and offers his expertise around the built environment and culture.
In this episode, Mark and I discuss:
Mark answers the questions:
Finally, Mark gives us his tangible tip to effectively communicate their wellness initiative.
With all of the talk about the culture of organizations, I wanted to talk with someone who has experience in improving organizational culture and not just around wellness or well-being.
Today I talk to Michael Sabbag, President of Partners4Performance. His career has included HR leadership in many organizations as well as a consultant to help create great places to work.
Here’s a spoiler alert – Michael is offering my listeners a free 30-minute consultation all around culture. Details are at the end so I encourage you to hear what Michael has to say.
Today we talk about:
Michael defines culture as behaviors that drive the experiences in the workplace and walks us through the elements of workplace culture.
He tells us why being a workplace maverick may not be a good thing and gives good advice for what leaders can do to enhance the well-being of their team.
Finally, Michael gives his viewpoint of where wellness falls within most corporate strategies.
Today I talk with Lindsay Boccardo. Lindsay is a nationally recognized Millennial expert, working with young talent and the organizations who employ them.
You may be wondering…what do millennials have to do with wellness? First of all, If you are planning any worksite wellness initiatives, you need to consider what your employees want. Millennials already form 25% of the workforce in the US and by 2020, millennials will form 50% of the global workforce. So, it would make sense to learn about what will be the bulk of your future workforce.
Secondly, a big part of liking your job comes from good relationships with your co-workers and managers. If you don’t take the time to understand how the different generations like to work and receive feedback, then it will be harder to avoid relationship conflicts.
In this podcast Lindsay and I discuss:
Lindsay describes the conflict she sees in the workplace such as expectations on feedback, all life balance and freedom in how and where to do work.
She tells us what employers should consider when attracting and retaining millennials and why money isn't the answer for millennials.
Lindsay also tells us how she coaches millennials to change in their thinking.
Evin Cole is Director of Strategic Customer Engagement at Kaiser Permanente and is also a founding executive member of Wellness Underground.
In this episode, we talk about:
Evin has a great approach she calls "wellness by subtraction" built on the concept of making life easier for employees and not harder.
Finally, part of Evin's role is onsite clinics and she gives us the main reasons employers buy into them.
Al’s been a very vocal critic of the wellness industry and certain people in it.
In this episode, we discuss:
Al also names companies and vendors that are "doing" wellness right and how Al and WELCOA mended fences due to Ryan Picarella's leadership.
We talk Quizzify and why Al wants employees to cheat when using Quizzify.
Finally, we end on the future of worksite wellness and Al gives his tangible tips for employers when starting a wellness program.
Although I don’t always agree with Al’s tactics, he has some valid points to his criticism that’s worth a listen.
This episode is a summary of this week's podcast interviews and focuses on what to say when you talk to leadership about wellness. Jen recounts her struggles talking to CEO's when she was just starting out in her career. She summarizes advice from Dee Edington and Jennifer Pitts on what to say when your leadership could care less about wellness.
Dee Edington, CEO of Edington Associates, has been in the wellness field for 40 years and reveals the wellness questions he asks CEO's when he's working with organizations. He has great advice on how to talk to leadership even when they're not bought into wellness.
Dee gives a ton of value in this episode. He talks about why we shouldn't walk away from the word "wellness", how we can help employees get to their highest potential and how we should always start with what's going well first.
He also talks about the standard approach to wellness, including biometric screenings and financial incentives.
Finally, Dee talks about the value of caring and gratitude. There's an amazing amount of knowledge Dee imparts on us in this episode and I know I learned a ton.
Jennifer Pitts is the founder of the Institute for Positive Organizational Health, and co-founder of Edington Associates. She and Dee Edington recently coauthored a new book, Shared Values - Shared Results, a book that proposes a systems view for designing healthier cultures in organizations.
In this podcast, we talk about:
This was my favorite quote from Jennifer and great advice for anyone having trouble starting a wellness movement:
"Start a movement wherever you can get a foothold or leverage in your organization."
I also pick her brain on a focus on disease management vs wellness, systems thinking, characteristics of healthy organizations and mistakes employers make with evaluation.
Finally, Jennifer answers this question:
How do we shift the thinking from a wellness program to whole organizational health?
This is a 4 minute quick tip where Jen talks about what to consider in the environment when putting in a weight loss program.
Dr. Rebecca Robbins conducts research at the NYU School of Medicine on the critical role sleep plays in our waking lives. She co-authored a book called Sleep for Success! in 2011 with Dr. James B. Maas.
Dr. Robbins published peer-reviewed literature in publications including SLEEP, the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and Preventing Chronic Disease. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, The Financial Times, Condé Nast Traveler, and Martha Stewart Living.
Dr. Robbins has appeared on many news shows, including Fox Business News, ABC World News Now, CBS This Morning, and ABC Nightline. She speaks on the topic of sleep to audiences ranging from academic to corporate, including Google and General Electric (just to name a few).
Today Rebecca and I discuss:
Rebecca talks about her time at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab where she published a few papers on employee wellness. One was the 10% solution around management involvement in wellness and workplace health codes of conduct. It's a very interesting approach to employee health.
Dr. Robbins talks about a powerful approach to technology, tangible tips for getting a good night's sleep and what night shift and split shift workers can do to get better sleep.
When talking sleep, of course we talk about sleep pods, nap rooms and what's up with being sleepy between 2 and 4 p.m.
Meet Amy Grazen, Corporate Resilience Trainer and Intrinsic Health Coach. Amy and I met a couple years ago when I was brought her training to my last employer. From the first time I was exposed to resilience training, I was hooked because it made such an impact in my life both personally and professionally.
In this episode we discuss:
Amy also shares a hard time in her life when all of her resilience practices went away. She tells us how she got back on track with practicing resilience.
As with every episode, Amy will give us a tangible tip for both employees and employer's health and wellness practices.
Ryan is President of WELCOA, otherwise known as the Wellness Council of America.
In this episode, we discuss:
Ultimately, Ryan thinks we're having the wrong conversations around wellness.
He gives us advice on:
Ryan is very transparent about the changes he's making within WELCOA and gives us a behind the scenes recap of their brand redesign. He also shares the 3 words that represent WELCOA's brand.
Matt Lund, was named Executive Director of the National Wellness Institute (NWI) in October 2015.
In this episode, Matt walks us through NWI's creation, the 6 dimensions of wellness and why they aren't adding any other dimensions.
Matt weighs in on why an employer shouldn't take "a check in the box approach to wellness". He reveals that the National Wellness Institute didn't have their own wellness program and talks us through how he created a personalized approach to wellness for his employees.
Matt not only leave us with his tangible wellness tip but also shares the advice he got from his mentor on the two things it takes to be a great leader.
How to get in touch with Matt:
www.nationalwellness.org
matt@nationalwellness.org
715-342-2969
Brian’s motto is to “be a facilitator and help others experience success”. This motto is evident in his co-creation of the Wellness Underground.
As I continue my conversation with Brian Passon, he talks about how Wellness Underground got started and his experience with the two first conferences. His main objective was to create an amazing experience for participants (which he did). Although one participant thought they may be getting scammed!
Brian also walks us through his new venture, Quantified Habits. He focuses on the importance of the right message at the right time in the right place. Not to mention, how a random high 5 can brighten someone else’s day.
Brian tells us about a person who challenges his thinking and tells him nothing’s impossible. For example…robots at the office anyone?
Brian leaves employers with one tangible tip when starting a wellness program and how we may be getting sick of the word “habit” in the near future.
Mentioned in this podcast:
http://www.wellnessunderground.com/
http://www.quantifiedhabits.com/
Book mention: Drive by Dan Pink
Get in touch with Brian:
Twitter: @BrianPasson
Email: brian@quantifiedhabits.com
Brian has been around the field long enough to have done some crappy wellness programs and some great ones too.
With a graduate degree in sports psychology, Brian wants people and organizations to achieve optimal work and life performance.
He’s worked within the insurance environment, formed a consulting company, co-created the Wellness Underground and now also working at Quantified Habits.
Brian aims to develop habit forming technologies and solutions for individuals, organizations and health coaches. He has a desire to be constructively disruptive in order to maximize success.
In our chat, we talk the wide gamete of the wellness industry. Some highlights include:
We also get to hear how Brian got into the wellness industry and how why he wants to disrupt it (constructively, of course).
Since we talked for a good hour or so, I split this episode into two parts. We continue our chat in the next episode.
Links mentioned in this podcast:
Blog post: Why I hate worksite wellness best practices
This is the very first episode of the Redesigning Wellness podcast. Your host, Jen Arnold, will walk you through the main three reasons she's starting a worksite wellness podcast. She'll give you a brief background on her experience in the worksite wellness industry and she'll walk you through the 5 Key Ingredients of Successful Wellness Programs.
Future episodes will include interviews from experts both inside and outside of the wellness industry so employers, HR teams and wellness professionals can learn how to improve employee health.